The reason for the sword (around 13:50 ) not fitting correctly after a time is simply (but not exclusively this): The place where it was made had not taken into consideration where your sword would end up in the world. for example: If they made the scabbard in Costa Rica, or Hunan China, the humidity would affect how the wood would swell or shrink. That will have every bearing on sword fitment. If the maker does not take that into consideration, then if your average humidity does not align with theirs it will not fit and have to be adjusted. A professional at this will know how to make these adjustments, and they're made on humidity. A small, yet important feature mass blades manufacturers do not consider; yet are more important than most realize. "The man in Black" who you refer too, understands this: as most educated Sayashi do. If I pay 4 grand and up I expect it to be very "Japanese", and new steels. new ideas and concepts, new modalities of constructions etc...this is not the problem. The problem is the utter lack of understanding what matters in a Japanese/style blade really means. It isn't about the "change"; its about to the attention to detail and honest workmanship. Being true to the ideal at least. The workers in a Toyota factory understand this ethos, from top to bottom, and that's why they're good cars. When one skimps things in order to make a price point, they better know what and why they are doing so....and to what extent. These folded steel blades may be in some small way be even superior (but not many) to traditional Tamahagane, but the feel, the balance, the cutting ability (when done right) are rarely equalled.

I just talked to Citadel. They will in the future be doing another run of swords for Cas Iberia.

I really enjoyed this video. I feel like I know you a little bit better after it and it will help me properly interpret your other videos. I appreciate your style of review at least as much as anyone else's and probably the most.

Thank you for yout time and efforts! Fantastic review, glad I found your videos!

I was just watching one of your other videos, we do enjoy your reviews! Just ordered a 47 Ronin Katana from Hanwei, my first katana after years of thinking when should I buy one haha

Citadel. No question.

The red one is absolutely beautiful

Hello I like your videos and appreciate the effort and level of detail that goes into them. Have you any advice for Japanese made swords and options actually from Japan, those are more appealing to me despite the steel not being as high grade carbon

I got a Kami katana in rough shape with no fittings last year that I'm slowly making progress with. The last Kami I saw for sale was listed around$2500.

Good video for that thank you very much

Congratulations on the sound editing, sir. The medieval diddling was too busy; this background selection is flat, featureless, of narrow range providing no competition with or distraction from your narrative. You were very well miked and at good levels throughout. The sonic background did compete with you a tiny bit from time to time in terms of levels but that is a bit of tweeking. Your natural vocal register and that of the background are pretty close - perhaps experimenting with background a third higher or lower on the scale and hear what that is like. Overall, well done, pleasing, great improvement. I am impressed with your efforts and thank you for making them; the sound was very good.

That was great and really useful. One year ago I purchased Shi katana from Dragon sword. It did the job. What do you think about Dragon Sword?

i always thought swords were pretty cool and your channel is informative enough to get me into it, got any tips for a total beginner here?

Bugei has restocked some of their swords.

One thing that really annoys me especially in the case of Hanwei is the seppa and the stuff they think you don’t see. For instance the mouth on seppa and Tsuba badly ground to fit the sword and use the same crappy brass seppa

I had so many oooh’s and ahhh moments during this video 🤩

I would have cold steel machete katana for home defence, but for Iaito I would have a bokken & later a 500 old katana

I still have my golden orial

To fairly judge the Hanwei Kami you really need a time machine. When this sword came out nearly 25 years ago it was… like most of their offerings, a total game changer. None of these other companies existed. Paul Chen put quality reproductions in the hands of students at a fraction of the cost of Nihonto. The Nihonto market was crazy in the late 90’s- early 2000’s. $5,000 was the price of a decent entry blade with functional koshirae.

Okay, if we’re talking about commercially built katanas difficult as I have not yet found one that is really built like a real Japanese sword machining just cannot duplicate hand craftsmanship

I recently bought a Dragon Sword for $450.00. The polish was not so good. The one they sent you to review was alot better than what they sent to me. To bad they aren't consistent.

Matt, you mentioned the price of tatami--have you looked into Kageyama Imports? Aikidoka did a review of the mats they're importing. As long as you're willing to buy in bulk and are willing/able to cut and roll them yourself, the price is pretty good. Edit: I also have some personal experience cutting them and, while I am an _embarassingly_ bad cutter, I give the mats themselves a thumbs up!

It's interesting that you seem to favour ishime saya in your reviews, but for a classy sword they're all piano gloss lacquered saya. Personally, I enjoy both, though find the gloss types have more presence and taste. Also, it's kind of interesting the variety of katana buyers and purposes. Compared to, say, a modern compound bow, which is strictly performance oriented, and would be weird to buy one for the express purpose of hanging it on the wall or practicing dry-draw.

I'd take the new feilong design and have Zsey make a copy with a tamahagane blade and better fittings

I was about to say. A real, NBTHK/NTHK papered antique, or a custom commission from an existing Japanese smith. If money was no issue

i personally would go for a real Nihonto from the Edo era in superb condition....for production Katana i always found the Old Pine katana from Bugei super nice...

Matthew, have you ever gotten your hands on a Phil Hatsfield Sr. sword and if so, what were your thoughts on it?

I would buy the one in the Japanese museum that is said to have cut through 7 torsos in one pass.

It would be slick to match up a secondary sword, with each katana. In reliability there's this secondary sword for the bushido of a samurai.

Also, Id just for a koto era Tachi in full regalia show up and buy it lol,maybe have it polished if I just had unlimited funds.

Jensen mentions in the description that he excluded custom forges that he does business with, anyone know a costume forge I could do business with?

If money is not a factor I would go with a real japanese sword. Doesn't matter if it's an old one or a gendaito/ shinsakuto. Maybe I would get a custom one newly made for me.

I think you should try getting your hands on a newer evolution katana and see what you think

Thats easy, all of them!!!!! Nihonto, custom, customized, and production. Lol. By your guidelines, I would go for a Hira zukuri Motohara in their best steel, half bohi, with silver habaki, seppa, and menuki with everything else blacked out, would have to be my choice. With the runner up being the $1600ish hira zukuri zsey, but with only a half bohi so the cutting portion of the blade moves through the target smoothly.

Can do T12a steel katana review?

i would have to go with the dawson knives dark knight

I saw a knock off kami on eBay. They almost had me.

I will go to Japan, and have one made for me, providing I could bring it back with me, and I may buy an historic one made by one of the best masters that ever lived

> Money no factor > High end katana > STILL presents China-to

2 thousand dollars for a sword. That's a nice rifle or pistol. Then again, a firearm can't cut space and time. 🤠

Biggest point on here I disagree with is Motohara's fittings. They are the most traditional of the bunch, by far. I mean it's not even close. Which means, aesthetically they are also the most traditional with likely some of the least traditional blade shapes for the length.

Why nothing directly from Tozando in Kyoto? I would think money no object one would buy a Japanese sword that was actually made by a Japanese craftsman by hand.

If money was a bit of a factor but not too much, would your first choice still be the Bamboo Mat? How is it that you havent got the waki bamboo mat to talk about here on the channel since all that time (maybe I missed it, sorry in that case). Is the Bamboo Mat strong enought to stop Putin's nuclear ogives? (I live in Europe), Peace lol

I'm a fan Matt, but it took you five minutes to get started.

I think the title of the video should be changed to "What Production Katana Would You Buy..." Otherwise, if we're only not talking nihonto, I would love a Howard Clarke L6 bainite.

I’d buy the Albion Princepe…. katana

You can take some fine grit sand paper and carefully adjust the saya to give you the action that you want. I had a sword custom made and it was very tight. tight is good! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mthdas2iqLm3in0.htmlsi=WfCfWSHRHsYuv04y&t=826

If money wasn't a factor, I wouldn't even go for a katana. I would go for a tachi. A traditional nihonto made in the Koto ways, in Ko-Bizen style, with a hyogo-gusari koshirae. Katana is overrated. Tachi rules!

I like the Citadel the best out of those. The Motohara is OK, but I like Niku on a blade, not the flat sided grass-cutter geometry. That always seemed like cheating to me.

What most people don't realize is that katanas traditionally weren't made of high quality steel. Japanese blacksmiths needed to develop such refined, complicated and artful ways of making their swords, because the materials they were working with were of poor quality. They had to polish a turd, so to say. The reason why katanas have that characteristic curve is not a design choice. They just naturally bend that way during quenching, because the lack of hard carbon steel forced them to only make the edge out of hard steel and use soft "pig iron" (x) style metal for the spine of the blade. When quenching that construct out of 2 different metals, the hard edge shrinks less than the soft spine, which bends the blade into a curve. (x) It is called pig iron because cheap farming tools like pitchforks and the such used to be made out of low quality, soft iron. I always have to laugh when I see some supposedly Japanese kitchen knife manufacturer advertise on KZfaq, claiming the knifes they sell are so great because they use high quality Japanese steel, based on traditional Japanese metallurgy knowledge and so on. Japanese steel has always been bad. It only got good after WW2, when they rebuilt their economy copying American and European steel making technology. There are interesting historical anecdotes like for example that during WW2 Germany gave blue prints and samples of jet and rocket engines to Japan, but the Japanese couldn't replicate them because they couldn't produce steel of high enough quality to make jet or rocket engines out of. This is also why wakizashis were a thing. Katanas made of soft pig iron would bend frequently or the hard edge would break and chip, so you better had a backup sword with you. They also had buckets standing in Japanese castles, comparable to the kind of bucket we use nowadays for storing umbrellas in, just filled with spare katanas, so people defending the castle could easily replace their easily damaged swords that way. The point being, if you go for a authentic, historically accurate katana, don't expect it to be sturdy or durable. It is kind of a single use throwaway weapon. Some 40 Dollar wall hanger katana made out of cheap 440 stainless steel won't hold an edge well, but will actually be more sturdy and durable than a historically accurate pig iron katana.

I can understand if somebody want and need to have some cheap tools for traininig, but why are you collecting such garbage.

A Howard Clark L6 bainite bare blade.

I would fly to Japan and buy a 4-500 yr old katana antique. If money was no object. Just a dream of mine...

toshiro swords are the best ........